US stocks close sharply lower amid AI displacement fears and revived tariff angst

NEW YORK - Wall Street stocks tumbled on Feb 23, as ongoing fears of artificial intelligence-related disruption and the fallout from Feb 20’s US Supreme Court ruling sent investors fleeing from high-risk equities.

A broad selloff sent all three major US stock indexes more than 1 per cent lower by the closing bell, as risk appetite was dampened by a combination of persistent fears over potential disruption due to emergent artificial intelligence technology and Mr Trump’s erratic statements on trade policy, which fueled much of the market volatility during the first year of the president’s second term.

Financial stocks were off 3.3 per cent, while software-related firms slid 4.3 per cent amid ongoing AI disruption fears.

“The question about AI is twofold: How much is it going to cost, and who all is going to be disrupted?“ said Mr Tom Hainlin, national investment strategist at US Bank Wealth Management in Minneapolis. “You’ve seen the market react to headlines, it’s ‘sell first, assess later.’“

He added: “It’s a perspective of what may happen as opposed to what has happened.”

On Feb 20, the top court in the nation issued a 6-3 ruling that Mr Trump overstepped his presidential authority by enacting reciprocal tariffs under an economic emergency law, a ruling that provoked condemnation from the president, who threatened a 15 per cent temporary tariff on all imports, despite having reached trade agreements with many US trading partners.

Gold prices, benefiting from a flight to safety, surged 2.6 per cent.

“The Supreme Court decision wasn’t unexpected,” Mr Hainlin said. “But you put these uncertainties on top of each other, the heightened geopolitical situation in the Middle East, tariff uncertainty, and potential AI displacement and that’s leading investors to a broad risk reassessment.”

A powerful winter storm buried much of the US under more than 38cm of snow and paralysed travel in the North-east. At airports in the New York City area, 89 per cent to 98 per cent of flights were cancelled, according to Flightaware.com. Airlines and travel/leisure-related stocks tumbled 3.8 per cent and 3.7 per cent, respectively. Dow Transports dropped 2.9 per cent.

With only 77 of the companies in the S&P 500 yet to post results, fourth-quarter earnings season has neared the finish line, a smattering of high-profile companies are expected to report this week, most notably vanguard artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia due on Feb 25.

Home improvement rivals Home Depot and Lowe’s are also on the docket, which is rounded out by Salesforce and Universal Health Services.

Of the companies that have reported, 73 per cent have beaten expectations, and analysts now expect aggregate year-on-year S&P 500 earnings growth of 13.9 per cent, significantly higher than the 8.9 per cent forecast as of Jan 1, according to LSEG data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 821.91 points, or 1.66 per cent, to 48,804.06, the S&P 500 lost 71.76 points, or 1.04 per cent, to 6,837.75 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 258.80 points, or 1.13 per cent, to 22,627.27.

Among the 11 major sectors of the S&P 500, financials suffered the biggest percentage, while consumer staples led the gainers. The healthcare index advanced 1.2 per cent, boosted by a 4.9 per cent gain in Eli Lilly after rival Novo Nordisk’s obesity drug CagriSema underperformed Eli Lilly’s drug Zepbound in a head-to-head trial.

Among other movers, Domino’s Pizza climbed 4.1 per cent after the fast-food chain’s fourth-quarter same-store sales beat Wall Street estimates. PayPal jumped 5.8 per cent after Bloomberg News reported that the payments firm is attracting takeover interest.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.2-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 390 new highs and 204 new lows on the NYSE. On the Nasdaq, 1,432 stocks rose and 3,277 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.29-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 41 new 52-week highs and 18 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 67 new highs and 264 new lows. Volume on US exchanges was 18.39 billion shares, compared with the 20.62 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days. REUTERS